Ranking Every WWE Title Match At Royal Rumbles Worst To Best
The highs and lows of all 32 WWE Title bouts to play out at the company's January spectacle.
To many wrestling fans, the Royal Rumble is the most anticipated WWE event of the year.
Over the decades, the Rumble has featured a whole host of memorable 30-person battle royals which still make for great revisits to this day. Away from the titular contest, though, this January staple has also showcased some brilliant - and not so brilliant - World Title matches.
In particular, the focus here is on the WWE Championship - as in the same belt, under various names, which can be traced back to Buddy Rogers, Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Steve Austin, etc, and is currently held by Roman Reigns under the guise of the combined Undisputed WWE Universal Championship - and the Royal Rumble offerings which have revolved around this prize. For the Tribal Chief, he's currently set to defend that slice of gold in four-way fashion against Randy Orton, AJ Styles, and LA Knight at this year's Rumble PLE.
As of this writing, there have been 32 WWE Title contests at this fan favourite spectacle, with that belt twice having been on the line in the Royal Rumble match itself. Here, it's about reflecting back on these bouts, bringing back painful memories of dross, remembering joyous bouts of great pro wrestling action, and somehow putting these in-ring battles into some sort of order.
With that in mind, then, from worst to best, here are the (of course, subjective to your writer) rankings of each and every WWE Championship match to have played out at the Royal Rumble.
32. Royal Rumble 1994 - Yokozuna Vs. The Undertaker
Back in 1994, both Yokozuna and The Undertaker fared better when against smaller guys who could bump around for them.
So, when the pair met in a casket match at the '94 Royal Rumble with Yoko's WWF Title on the line, it was a recipe for disaster. Both men meandered around the ring, methodically (see: slow as f**k) stalking their prey, with 'Taker playing the babyface trying to take the bigger man down.
After a few minutes of glacial brawling, the match turned into a complete cluster when Crush, Adam Bomb, Jeff Jarrett, Tenryu, Great Kabuki, Bam Bam Bigelow, The Headshrinkers and finally Diesel joined the action to attack the Deadman.
The Undertaker would finally be sealed in the casket and his 'spirit' would bizarrely ascend through the video wall as the watching audience looked on in confused bemusement. Yes, it's just as bonkers as it sounds, and it's still considered by many to be the strangest thing ever seen on a Rumble PLE.